O O feminino como constelação em devir nas literaturas africanas: um olhar para um conto de Mia Couto

Abstract

This work deals with the feminine as a constellation in becoming. In particular, we elaborate some aspects of a topology of female subjective expression, through the reading and analysis of the short story “A Menina de Futuro Torcido” by Mia Couto. Our central question is: in what way does the tale evidence the thresholds of the becoming of the feminine and its conceptual constellations? To explore this issue, we established an essentially bibliographic methodology, but we also made use of elements and instruments such as narrative review and an essayistic approach. We start from three preliminary notions, which help us in the reading, but we are don’t cling to them in terms of categories. With the support of authors such as Oyewumi (2004), Adorno (2000), Silva (2016, 2017, 2020, 2021), among others, we outline and highlight some reflections on the feminine, understanding it as a constellative becoming. We were able to perceive many similarities with Brazil and sketch some understanding of this similarity, albeit in different geographical spaces. The hypothesis based on Oyewumi (2004), Brito and Paula (2013), among other authors, is that colonization violently extended gender relations from the metropolis to the colonies, to stolen/invaded spaces. We could perceive conceptual constellations between feminine, poverty, entertainment, silencing and despair for survival.